Bionic Fantasy Part 2
Air and Ice (空と氷 Sora to Kori) is the second segment of Bionic Fantasy. Characters * Matau * Nuju * Squall Leonheart * Rinoa Heartilly * Jikanmu Story Chapter 1 Deep in the underground land of Onu-Kuro, Matau and Nuju fought bravely to stay alive, as they were being attacked by the Vahkshi. "This is quick-starting look ugly-bad, brother-Toa!" said Matau, as he sliced at a red and blue Vahkshi with his twin swords. Nuju smashed his crystal spikes at one of the green and purple Vahkshi, and it responds by demonstrating it's elemental inverse ability, changing it's green parts to purple, it's purple parts to neon green, and thus it's native element switched from air to poison. "Whatever these mechanical creeps are," says Nuju, "they're somehow advanced and intelligent enough to adapt to any strategy we employ!" "And we're quick-running out of options!" Matau desperately cried as he used his blades to keep a Vahkshi's toxin infused spear from reaching his mask. Just then, the Vahkshi was struck by a bolt of lightning, and ceased to function. Nuju scanned the area with his mask's built-in monocular scope for the source of the lightning, but he was surprised to see who it was that summoned it; Rinoa Heartilly, a young, beautiful woman with black hair in a sky-blue dress revealed herself, with a wrist mounted projectile based weapon at the ready. "Whoa! Check her out!" Matau was particularly infatuated with her immediately, though she had yet to introduce herself to the Toa. "Looks like these two need our help, Squall!" says the lady in the blue dress. "These guys just don't know what they're getting themselves into..." says a young man who reveals himself to be in Rinoa's company, wearing a black leather jacket and bearing a scar across his forehead. But what really caught the Toas' eyes was his gunblade, a cross between a sword and a firearm. The man's name is Squall Leonheart, a member of SeeD. "Wait, you speak-talking about them or us?" Matau asked Squall. Ignoring Matau's comment, Squall aimed his weapon at a Vahkshi's head and fired, blowing it to pieces. Nuju looks at Matau and says, "Well, guess that means they're on our side!" Chanting the spell Blizzara, Rinoa summons a spire of ice that impales two water Vahkshi, and Squall proceeds to run an earth Vahkshi through with his blade, then roundhouse kicking an ice Vahkshi coming to it's brother's aid. Matau plants his swords into the disoriented Vahkshi's back, and ripped it in two. "Not too shabby, Big Green!" Squall says to the Toa of Air. "Ex-squeeze me?" a somewhat offended Matau asked, "The name's Matau, and I'm a Toa!" Nuju swung his Crystal Spikes at the Vahkshi, taking care not to hit Rinoa also. Noticing a stalactite hanging precariously on the ceiling, the woman casts a Flare spell on it's base, bringing it down on the remaining Vahkshi before they can approach anyone. "Hah! Glad that's over-done!" says an exhausted Matau, as Rinoa runs to tend to him. "What're you name-called again?" "Squall," the SeeD agent responded, "...and that's Rinoa." "I'm Nuju, and he's Matau, in case you didn't hear him earlier." says the Toa of Ice. "We've been wandering this place for hours, it appears, wondering how we got here." Rinoa says to Nuju and Matau, "How did you end up here?" "Beats me," said Matau, shrugging, "I was helping my brothers and sister bring the Matoran to Mata Nui, and then there was this bright-shining light that blinded us." "We are hoping that Vakama, Nokama, Onewa, and Whenua are all ok, somewhere on this planet, but we've yet to find even one of them." Nuju replied. "Should we help them find their missing friends, Squall?" Rinoa asked. "Hmph! We barely even know these... Toa, and you're already considering helping them?" says an apathetic Squall. "I'm just looking out for my friends here," said Nuju, "what would you do?" The young man pondered this question, and saw Nuju's point fairly quickly. There was a time when he wasn't very sociable or willing to make friends, but that time has long passed. Squall would do everything he can to save his friends, just as he once saved Rinoa from asphyxiating in the vastness of space. "You make a good point, for a stranger I just met." replied Squall, "Stick with me, and don't get lost." The Toa and their new allies navigated Onu-Kuro's expansive network of tunnels for a way out. Matau, already taking interest in Rinoa for her beauty and kindness, eagerly wanted to know more about her, starting with her powers. "So what kinda girl are you, being able to use more than one element?" He asked. "I have the ability to use black magic, and my powers increased after I became a sorceress." Rinoa answered. "A sorceress? Hehe! Witch, please!" Matau says in a lively tone of voice, "You don't mean someone like Roodaka, do ya? She was bad news!" "More like Ultimecia, I'm afraid." answered Squall. He was a bit annoyed by Matau's one-liner, but he tolerated it much better than when he first met Zell Dincht, a fellow classmate of his back at Balamb Garden. "Fortunately, she's been keeping them under control, and has shown no signs of becoming evil." Matau knew nothing of Ultimecia, the Sorceress Extreme who plotted to compress all time into a single moment, but he didn't bother ask or worry about any potential risk of Rinoa becoming a threat. He just stuck with the team, and kept his silence. After some run-ins and victories against Vahkshi squadrons, the group found what they assumed to be the exit, but it was guarded by a mighty bull, the Earth Genjuu Kujata. "Whoa!" said Squall, as he hid with the others beneath a large pillar of coal, "Since when did Minotaur and Sacred learn how to fuse?" "I seriously doubt that's either or both of them put together, Squall!" Rinoa responded. "Whatever it is, we need a plan of attack!" Nuju whispered. Matau would have considered charging in and distracting Kujata while the others make a beeline for the exit, but past bouts of recklessness have led him to think better. He left the planning to Nuju or Squall. Matau would use his Mask power of Illusion to generate an image of a large plant, bearing in mind that the bull-like Kane-Ra from Po-Metru are herbivorous. With Kujata distracted, Nuju and Rinoa pooled in their powers over ice to freeze the bull's hind legs in a huge block of ice, giving Squall enough time to execute his Renzokuken technique: Blasting Zone, before Kujata can break free of the ice. "Ice move, pal!" Matau praised Squall. "Yeah, well don't get cocky, kid." said the agent of SeeD, "This battle's just getting started!" Kujata was weakened enough by the Blasting Zone for the party to engage in straight combat. Matau flew up on the Genjuu's back and wrapped each leg around both it's horns and bent backwards, facing up at the ceiling and sticking his swords into Kujata's back to hold on as the mighty bull tried to throw him off. Clever move, Squall thought, and he's not even nearly obnoxious enough to act like a cowboy or bullfighter, let alone joke around entirely too often! As Matau mimicked a sit-up maneuver to make Kujata rear up it's head, Squall fired his gunblade at the bull's throat while Nuju pummeled the left side with his spikes. The Genjuu retaliated by raising it's front legs and bringing them down, causing a shockwave that makes Nuju and the humans lose their footing briefly. "It's now or never!" Rinoa cried out as she got back up, and enters her Angel Wing state, chaining Meltdown spells until Kujata was weakened enough to knock it over. Matau released his leg hold on the Genjuu and leaps to safety as Rinoa sends a Tornado spell it's way to push it onto it's side, followed by a Flare strong enough to put Kujata out of it's misery. Getting back up on his feet, Matau tends to Rinoa as she exits her Angel Wing state. "That was amazing! You ok, my lady?" he says. "Thank Mata Nui that's over!" a relieved Nuju says as his brother helps Rinoa up. "It was a load of bull, if you ask me..." said Squall. Matau quickly got the unintentional pun and started snickering, only for the SeeD agent to elbow him in the stomach. Even Rinoa laughed a little bit, and spotted the door Kujata was guarding, broken down during it's rampage. "Come on, guys!" Rinoa called, "The exit's right there!" "And so the party journeyed onward: the Toa of Air, the Toa of Ice, the Beautiful Sorceress, and her loyal knight!" Matau said excitedly. Rather ironically enough, Squall did consider becoming Rinoa's secret Sorceress' Knight, if she started becoming like Ultimecia, but that never came to pass. "What are you, the narrator now? I'm a mercenary, Matau!" the SeeD spat back. "Just trying to break the quiet-silence, bro." Matau said lightheartedly as Rinoa giggled slightly. "I'm not your 'bro', airhead." Squall muttered that last word under his breath, as the group pressed on. Chapter 2 Finally, the heroes made it out of Onu-Kuro and into the dense jungle of Le-Mido. "Hope we don't run into any T-Rexaurs here!" said Squall, "They'll eat us alive if we're not careful!" "Relax!" Matau responded as he cut down vines and branches to clear the way for his group, "No matter how many Vahkshi or something-other comes our way, we'll cut 'em down to Toa-bones before they know it!" "Do you always have to talk like that?" Squall asked. "It's chute-speak, Squall," replied Nuju, "All Le-Matoran speak it." "Yeah, you thought we were just born Toa-heroes?" Matau added. Suddenly, without warning, a blue and red Vahkshi poked it's head out of the bushes, giving Matau quite the jump scare. "AAAAAAHHH!!" he screamed, but the Vahkshi was barely moving it's parts, like they were completely stiffened, and slumped into the ground, dead. The Toa checked the lifeless husk for the cause of it's death but found nothing. "Maybe something sucked the life out of it?" Matau guessed. "Not something, someone." Nuju corrected his brother, "There must be someone else wandering around this place, and we can only hope it's friendly." That's too bad, Matau thought, because he was itching to see Nokama and/or any of his other brothers again. But one question remains; who could have done this to that Vahkshi? After few more miles, the group finds an open area littered with dead plants and broken branches. Matau is what Squall could snidely refer to as a "Nature Boy", and was understandably horrified at what he saw. "By the Great Spirit..." Nuju spoke. "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS BAD-HORROR!?!?" Matau impulsively finished Nuju's sentence, loudly enough to make the birds fly off, if there were still any left on Le-Mido. His shouting did, however, attract the attention of a large falcon, Valefar, which swooped down from above and ensnared Nuju in it's talons, much to everyone's horror. "Nuju!" Riona cried as Valefar soared higher and higher. Squall got his gunblade out and tried to aim carefully at the Genjuu, so he doesn't shoot Nuju, who tried to break free of Valefar's talons, but they held on too tightly. So he resorted to clapping his Crystal Spikes together on the leg, forcing Valefar to let go. "I'll save you!" Matau shouted as he took to the sky and rescues his brother from falling to his doom. "Got you!" Matau lands back in the clearing where Squall and Rinoa waited. "Is he safe?" she asked. "Other than a few light scratches, yeah!" Nuju replied. "Look, nature boy. I get that you're upset at this senseless destruction of life, but you don't just shout angrily in the air, attracting the wrong attention!" Squall chided the Toa of Air, "Whatever that thing is, it could have killed us!" "Aww gee! Sorry about that. I didn't mean any wrong-harm." Matau apologized. "Nuju," Rinoa spoke to the Toa of Ice, "that monocular piece on your mask, can you use it to look for the flying creature?" Nodding as if to say yes, Nuju scanned the sky to see where Valefar went, only to find a three hundred feet tall, half-dead tree, to which he points and says, "If I had to guess, our flying friend's nest must be somewhere in there". "You're kidding!" Squall said, "It'll take forever to scale a tree this big!" "I can wind-fly us to the top if you like." Matau volunteered. "No. It'll be expecting that!" Squall says, "Unless, we had some kind of cloaking device." "Yeah," sighed Matau, "If only Vakama were here. His Mask power makes him invisible, but we don't know how to share or transfer Mask powers, if that's ever possible." "We'll just have to lure it out of hiding. And I think I may have an idea..." Nuju said. Recalling that Gukko birds favor berries in their diet, Nuju sent Squall and Matau to gather whatever little berries remained in the devastated forests of Le-Mido, while he went searching for some with Rinoa. "You seemed awfully calm when Squall was scolding your brother..." Rinoa commented as she picked a berry off a plant. "Well, it's not the first time Matau has gotten somebody in, and out of trouble," Nuju replied, with a couple berries in hand, "but as far as Squall goes, I sorta understand where he's coming from... kind of." Squall had just met the Toa only a while ago, so it was gonna take some time for him to fully trust them, as the Toa trust each other. Many Vahkshi tried to keep the group from completing their current objective, but all have failed. Soon they had gotten enough berries to lay the bait for Valefar in the clearing where it first attacked. They were so fortunate that they didn't have to rely on Matau's mask power this time, else the creature would sense that something was amiss, unlike Kujata. The Toa and humans hid in the bushes, each facing the mound of berries from a different direction, and keeping their silence. Eventually, Valefar showed itself to dine in, thus presenting the opportunity the party had waited patiently for! Matau quickly pinned Valefar's right wingtip into the dirt with one Aero Slicer, and used the other to poke a hole in the right wing's tendon so it can't fly away. Still, Valefar was quite formidable, and used it's free left wing to generate a gust of wind strong enough to blow Matau back before he can attack further. But while Valefar's back is turned, Squall and Nuju took the opportunity to grab it's serpentine tail and have it tied to a still living tree trunk, followed by Nuju and Rinoa covering both the tail and tree in a huge block of ice. Nuju creates a makeshift riot shield out of ice to protect Squall and Rinoa as they help Matau back on his feet. "Did we win yet?" he asked. "Not quite yet!" Nuju answered, shielding his comrades from Valefar's mouth blasts. They retreat momentarily into the bushes to decide how to finish off the Genjuu. "Someone is gonna have to take out the other wing before we take it down!" said Squall. "I'll do it!" Matau says, readying his remaining sword. "Wait!" Nuju cried. "I think we should put my Mask Power to use!" Valefar screeched as it finally pried it's right wing free of it's bounds, but it could not see Matau's sword shooting right out of the bushes and through the Genjuu's left wing tendon. Nuju moved it with his Mask power of telekinesis! "Now you can't go anywhere, bird-brain!" Matau calls out, as Squall comes out from behind to execute his Renzokuken technique: Rough Divide. "You're gone!!" Valefar is slain, but the travelers still haven't found what's causing the plantlife to die out. They ventured further into the forest, following the trail of decay and rot until they see a giant mechanical structure, the second Mako Reactor of Ankoku Nui. Squall could see pipes flowing with the planet's energy being drained out of the ground and into the reactor, hence the harrowing environmental breakdown he and his party witnessed mere moments ago. He also noticed that the reactor bears some aesthetic similarities to Balamb Garden and Galbadia Garden. The reason? He could only assume that whoever built it had somehow harnessed the ancient technology of the Centra civilization. Either way, he and his friends have to check it out. It took some sneaking around in the bushes closest to the reactor, on the chance there are any Vahkshi around, but they find the entrance in good time. "Alright, stay right beside me, and not a sound!" the SeeD agent whispered. The Toa and Rinoa did as told, and kept their silence as Squall led them right to the stairs. But as soon as they got there, they saw a mysterious stranger in gold armor, with a scepter in hand, staring right at the top of the reactor. Maybe he knows what to expect in there, Nuju wondered in his mind. Squall stuck his arm out to halt his companions and says, "I'll speak to him first." The man walks up to the gold armored stranger and asks, "Forgive me if I come off as demanding, but who are you, what is that building, and do you know anything about it and what lies in there?" The stranger turns to face Squall, and says, "I was wondering if and when you'd show up..." Scanning the stranger from afar, Nuju immediately recognized the highly sought after Kanohi Vahi being worn on the stranger's face! "...I see I'm not the only Toa wandering this planet! Hmph!" Matau was going to ask him nicely if he could hand over the Mask of Time, instead he's compelled to ask, "Wait, you're a Toa-hero?" The stranger answered, "My name is Jikanmu. I am the Toa of Time." "Whoa! No way!" a surprised Matau replied, "Any Toa can use the Mask of Time, but there's never been a Toa OF Time! Prove it!" Glady, Jikanmu thought to himself. He touched the tip of his scepter on Matau's chest, freezing him completely still. For the Toa of Air, time ceased to exist, and he couldn't move a muscle, but he can still look around even with his head frozen where it is. Jikanmu grabbed onto Matau and tapped the bottom of his scepter to the ground, speeding up time for the new Toa as he quickly made a lap around the Mako Reactor, releasing his grip and time control on Matau when he returned to the entrance. The Toa of Air panted as he was dropped to his back on the ground, humbled and amazed at what he and the others just witnessed. "Mata Nui, this is more than what I though the Mask of Time is capable of!" Nuju says. "My Toa Power has established a symbiotic connection between the mask and this Chronosceptre, amplifying their own powers significantly." "Interesting," said Squall, "but can you tell me anything about this building? Have you even been inside?" "I know that you will find the answers inside this Mako Reactor, but you'd best get inside, before it takes off." Jikanmu answered. "What? Can such a building even do that?" Rinoa asked, but before she could get an answer, the ground began to shake, and the Reactor slowly rises up into the air. "Figures," Squall said, "If it has any resemblance to Balamb Garden, it also has to have the same flight capabilities!" Noticing the stairs are going to retract, Nuju and Squall rushed up the stairs and through the door, while Matau swept Rinoa off her feet and flew them both inside before the door shut. Chapter 3 Inside the Mako Reactor, the party tried to see through the darkness around them, even half-wondering why Jikanmu didn't get inside with them, until the lights went on, revealing an infrastructure not unlike that of the Lunatic Pandora. It turns out, Jikanmu was already inside before them, thanks to his power over time. "This reactor," said the Toa of Time, "is now headed southeast towards Ko-Shiro, to suck out it's life energy like it just did with Le-Mido! By now, most of Onu-Kuro's tunnels have collapsed, sealing off select areas in the region at best and cutting off routes to others at worst!" "Well that explains alot!" says Matau. "But how do we stop it? "Simple, Matau. We go to the main generator and disable it." Nuju replied, "Then you're gonna fly us out, in case it explodes!" "Well, wind-flying one person out at a time is one thing, but carrying four at the same time!?!" "I'll use my crystal spikes to scale down a wall or something." "You needn't worry about me," said Jikanmu, "I've my ways of getting out of scrapes like this." "And what about our two lovebirds here?" Matau asked worriedly on Squall and Rinoa's behalf. "You fly them both to safety at once." Jikanmu responded to Matau, "If you've not the strength to carry two people... well, you better pray there's a field of snow to break your fall!" "...Well that was cold," an exasperated Matau muttered, "even for, uh, you there Squall. No pun intended if I say it to Nuju." "Really?" Squall replied. Whatever Matau's answer was, Squall seemed to take it in good stride, like he was finally warming up to the Toa of Air. The party saw a door on one of the upper levels, which Matau flew up towards to see if it leads to the main generator. He spots a console that requires four keywords to be inputted in a very specific order, but he couldn't guess what the password is! Jikanmu says to the group, "There should be some notes scattered across the reactor's interior. They might yield some hints to what it is!" Matau flies up to the ceiling to check for notes, spotting one on a catwalk. It has the letter "L" written in the Matoran alphabet. While he continued checking the top levels, Nuju fitted his Crystal spikes to his feet, using them to climb the walls of the reactor and search the middle levels, while Squall, Rinoa, and Jikanmu stuck to the bottom. "How did you even know we would come here?" Squall asked Jikanmu. "Without the Mask of Time, normally I would not." The Toa replied, "It gives me the power to see with my eyes what you can't with your own." "Such as?" "I have seen many ways certain individuals' lives could have played out, different events that could have unfolded." As he explained, Jikanmu found another piece of paper on the floor, hidden beneath a piece of machinery. Using his staff, Jikanmu dragged the note gently across the floor until he could reach it with his arm. It had a "V" on it, as the Toa quickly noticed. "In one of these alternate timelines," Jikanmu continued, "You, Squall Leonheart, were supposed to have died by the hand of a Sorceress named Edea, and what would've been be the rest of your life from then until now, is but a dream... your final fantasy." Squall thought back to the time he was struck in the right shoulder by an icicle, in a failed attempt to assassinate the Sorceress Edea. The icicle was meant to impale him in the abdomen, but by some stroke of fate, be it pure luck or Edea regaining her senses just long enough to deliberately miss that spot, he survived. And Jikanmu's powers surely called those of Ellone's to mind. Hearing of Ultimecia's former pawn compelled Rinoa to ask the new Toa a question herself, "I too have the powers of a sorceress, but I wonder sometimes, will I become just as malevolent as Ultimecia?" Jikanmu had only this to say, "Respect the past, and the future is your reward." Rinoa was both parts worried and baffled by this ambiguous statement, but she and Squall would press on for Ankoku Nui's sake. Meanwhile, Nuju made his way into a strange room with monitors and many records of worlds and subjects completely unknown to him, some written in an equally unfamiliar language once used by the Centra civilization. He did, however, find a note with an "F" written on it, after much searching through the myriad of files in storage. Matau regrouped with Nuju near the console to wait for Squall, Rinoa, and Jikanmu to return, as the latter three enter a room with a small armory, containing another note. It was stuck inside a steel cage that can only be opened by changing all the lights on a three by three grid nearby from red to blue. "Can't be any harder than Triple Triad, could it?" Squall says, walking up to the grid. He starts off pressing the center button, changing the color of all adjacent buttons to the opposite. While Squall tries to solve this puzzle, Rinoa investigates the wall of weaponry, a collection of arms used by the Centra and by warriors from other far off worlds. It wasn't long before she spots a purple lance with two prongs on one side, and claims it for herself at Jikanmu's suggestion. Mata Nui knows how long it took until all the buttons were lit up blue, and the note on which the letter "W" was written, is claimed by the SeeD agent. It was the last note to be found scattered throughout the reactor's interior, as Jikanmu reveals when Squall and Rinoa met up with Nuju and Matau in front of the console requiring the password, and the only hint the group has is that the notes contain the first letters of the four keywords. Each took a crack at arranging the letters around until they got the pattern, "FLWV"" as a sign that the right password is partially deciphered. But now they had to guess the remaining letters of the four words! "Jikanmu!" said Squall, "Are you absolutely sure there are no more notes remaining?" "I am entirely sure, that whoever maintains this reactor has no more clues left for us. Even if there were any more notes to begin with, he suspected you would come here and burned the majority of them. We are lucky to have even found the ones currently in our possession." "And you can't just go back in time to see what the remaining letters are, even with all that power you have, right?" Nuju asked somewhat sarcastically. "Says the Toa most fixated on the future!" Jikanmu said, with a hint of scorn in his voice. "Excuse me?" Nuju objected. Rinoa steps back and covers her ears, trying to ignore the ensuing argument between the two Toa to do some outside-the-box thinking. She still couldn't find an answer, but started hearing faint vocalizations vaguely sounding like an ancient incantation that somehow seemed familiar to her... And then the answer came to her, "I've got it!" She turns to the console and inputs the pass code: "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec". Nuju and Jikanmu stop their bickering as the code is accepted, and the door opens. Well, look who took my words seriously for once, Jikanmu thought. "Woo!" Matau cheered, "Luck be a lady tonight!" Rinoa turns to Matau and smiles at him, before the group goes right into the main generator room. Jikanmu and Squall access the main control panel and prepare to activate the self-destruct protocol while Nuju and Matau look around for an escape route, but all they could find was a large window looking out into the ice-cold lands of Ko-Shiro. They could only hope they're not too late to stop the reactor from taking it's energy, as they looked at the raging blizzard of snowflakes outside. "Where are you going?" Squall asked Jikanmu. "Stay right here. I'll be back shortly." Jikanmu answered. He used his powers to speed his way to the monitor room to see the Toa of Air and Ice next to the window they just found, and spoke into the intercom. "Ok," he says, "Squall, start the self destruct sequence, and I'll be there to get you and Rinoa quickly. Matau, Nuju, stay right where you are and I'll have that window opened for us when I get there!" On Jikanmu's mark, Squall sets off the eight minute self destruct countdown, and turns to face a trio of red Vahkshi that had just heard the alarm and broke into the generator room. Four minutes pass before two Vahkshi are scrap and one is almost down for the count, but true to his word, Jikanmu arrives in time to destroy it before getting Squall and Rinoa straight to Matau and Nuju's location. "Hey speed-runner, what took you so slow-long?!" Matau demanded as he threw a defeated Vahkshi into the window. Jikanmu had planned on slowing down time long enough to unscrew the bolts that kept the window fastened to it's place, but upon seeing the crack made by the impact of the Vahkshi husk, he decided breaking it would accomplish the same thing in general. "Stay back!" Jikanmu commanded, thrusting his scepter into the center of the crack, shattering the window to pieces. Nuju jumps out first, and slams his spikes onto the icy wall, halting his descent into the frozen chasm below. "Wait, so you wanna let me carry you or just hop on my back?" Matau asked Squall and Rinoa as they stood near the exit Jikanmu made for them. "Just get us outta here!" Squall yelled. Matau let Squall wrap his arms around the Toa's stomach with Rinoa in front, locking his hands as tightly as possibly as Matau attached his Aero slicers to his back and tried to carefully calculate the altitude of his flight. An impatient Jikanmu walks up behind Matau and kicks him and his passengers off the edge, but luckily, he works up his flying ability quickly enough to fly safely away from the reactor just before it explodes. Nuju, having scaled the wall back down to ground level, spots Matau with Rinoa and Squall in tow, cheering for them as Matau swoops down and drops the humans safely into the snow, before hitting a wall he did not see coming face first. "Matau!" Squall cried, running towards the disoriented Toa and getting him back up, "Get yourself together!" Shaking his head, Matau regains his senses and says, "I'm fine, bro. I face-slam into objects all the time." "Where's Jikanmu?" Nuju asks worriedly. "I hope he got out of there safely. He wouldn't just leave us here if he did, would he?" Chapter 4 As if the snowstorm wasn't bad enough, the group was up to their kneecaps in snow, making the journey much more tedious than it needs to be. The snow wasn't that problematic for Nuju, who used his Crystal Spikes as snowshoes to make his movement easier, with the others following his trail closely. "Where's a Chocobo when you need one?" Squall complained as he shielded his eyes from the falling snow. "Chocobo?" Matau replied, "Is that some kind of Rahi? A good-friendly one, mind you?" Indeed, a Chocobo or two would be of great help in this part of the planet, if they could find any still alive, or if the adorable avians even inhabit Ankoku Nui. What does lurk in this region, unbeknownst to the group, is Fenrir, the Genjuu of Ice, a white and silvery wolf using the snowstorm to camouflage itself as it stalks the travelers. Jikanmu told the travelers about the eight Genjuu aboard the Mako Reactor, that Kujata and Valefar were the two they defeated prior to their meeting the Toa of Time. They have to stay on their toes, as the beast, or even a herd of Vahkshi could catch them off guard at any time. And just like that, a squad of Vahkshi lept out from underneath the snow; a red one, a green one, and now a brown one and a yellow one! The brown Vahkshi sets it's sights on Rinoa and knocks her blaster edge off her hand. She retaliates with a Firaga spell, blowing it to pieces, but as she tries to retrieve her fallen weapon, the green Vahkshi blows a blast of air downward into the snow, launching it in Rinoa's direction like a tidal wave intent on burying her. Matau carries Rinoa off from what could have been her icy grave at the last moment, and Squall fires his gunblade at the green Vahkshi's back, then once more at it's chest before it crumples to the snow. However, the yellow Vahkshi starts firing lightning energy from it's claws with reckless abandon. Squall dodges most of the blasts, narrowly deflecting one with the blade of his weapon, and Nuju uses his monocular scope to see where the Vahkshi is attacking, bashing at it with his spikes just as Matau cuts down the red Vahkshi before it could do Rinoa in. But the danger had not quite passed yet! Fenrir jumped out from the whiteness in a flash and ran towards Squall! The heroes could barely hear it's snarling prior, over the sound of the wind blowing, but Matau saw the beast coming quickly enough to push his friend out of the way. "Look out!" Matau yelled, as he accidentally caused his human friend to fall face first into the snow. The Genjuu narrowly missed them, and vanished back into the snowstorm to await it's next opportune moment to strike. Matau picked Squall up from the snowy floor, and he spits out some snow that got into his mouth. "Aww, sick! It tastes like someone dropped a snowball into a toilet! I mean, who DOES that!?!" As Squall was implying, he fell into a portion of the steep snow that was colored yellow, indicating that it had the taste of toilet water. There were yellow patches of this awful-tasting snow all over the area, as Nuju noticed just now! "You think that's a sign that the Reactor had already drained some of Ko-Shiro's energy?" A concerned Rinoa asked Nuju. "I should hope not. But whatever it is, we're not about to let it discourage us from moving on!" The Toa of Ice replied. He spots Rinoa's blaster edge lying in the snow and hands it back to her. "I believe this is yours." he says. "Yes, thanks." she tells him. Some minutes of aimless wandering later, the winds became less intense and the snow felt lighter on everyone's faces, as they come across a lake of icy water, with twenty five miniature glaciers in a perfectly aligned five by five table pattern. Matau flies to the other side, only to discover a great crevice just ahead. He wasn't willing to risk flying everybody across if he can't see what's in front, so he guessed that they had to hop across the glaciers to make a bridge appear. He jumped onto the top most middle glacier, but the one directly south collapsed upon being touched and he fell into the ice water. "Matau!" Nuju cried out, as his brother frantically swam back to the other side where Nuju and the humans are. Squall and Rinoa pull him out of the water, and the Toa says, "Thanks guys! Guess I didn't quite right-plan this out!" "I'll say!" Squall told Matau, "We could really use Quistis' help right about now!" Nuju, however, deduced from Matau's first real attempt to cross the icy lake that the glaciers needed to be jumped on in a very specific pattern, but how to decide which path to take? "I know!" Nuju exclaimed, and put his monocular to work to tell the glaciers that remain standing from those that sink. He guides the party across the grid of glaciers, starting from the bottom most middle one, then going up, left, down, left, up right, up, up, up, left, down right, right, up, and finally onto the other side! Just as Matau thought, a massive bridge rose up from the abyss, and the snowstorm even died down a little further, but still not completely. Now it'll be easier to spot Fenrir before in anticipation of a surprise attack, though instead, the party finds the Genjuu leaping out from below and onto the last quarter of bridge leading to the other side! "How very ice of you to join us!" Matau declared. Fenrir bares it's fangs and rushes at the group with great speed. Nuju readies one of his Crystal Spikes and swings it in the beast's direction, hoping it would clamp it's teeth down on the Toa's weapon, making it unable to close it's mouth. And it did! Squall and Rinoa fire their weapons at the wolf's front legs, but only managed to damage them slightly. As Fenrir makes another run toward Squall, Matau performs a sliding dash underneath the Genjuu, sticking one Aero Slicer into it's chest and trying to hack at it's legs with the other as he is dragged across the frozen bridge on his back. After much effort, Fenrir spits the Crystal Spike out of it's jaws and at Squall's direction, cutting a slit through the left sleeve of his jacket as he gets down, and then the Genjuu jumps in an arc right after him and Rinoa. But she anticipated this! With her new lance in hand, Rinoa thrusts it's two pronged side at the beast's throat, narrowly avoiding Matau, who was still handing onto his weapon embedded in the Genjuu's chest. "Hey, watch where you point that thing!" He yells, slashing at Fenrir's left front leg before dislodging his weapon from the creature's chest and dropping safely back down. "Sorry!" Rinoa apologized. With Squall firing at the wounded Fenrir's face, Matau and Rinoa charge up two horizontal Tornadoes with enough force to push the Genjuu off the icy bridge and to it's death below. "Well done!" Jikanmu's voice resounded from the other side of the crevice. The Toa of Time did survive the Reactor's explosion, a relieved Rinoa thought! The group follows him to the end of the bridge and towards the main village in the northwest. "Do-Mura lies far north from here, beyond Le-Mido." said Jikanmu. "Once we've rested up at the village, we will head straight there at sunrise." "You mean we gotta foot-walk all the way there?" Matau groaned, "Why can't we just quick-travel, like you did in the Mako Reactor?!" "Do not worry, Matau." Jikanmu assured his fellow Toa, "that is my plan exactly! I'll get you all to Do-Mura before you know it. There, you will see your brothers and sister again!" Much as Nuju could only hope Jikanmu was being fully honest, and wanted to see his friends alive and well with his own eyes first, Matau was ecstatic already, raising his sword into the air with joy! "Oh yeah! Praise-thank Mata Nui, our brothers and sister are still alive! Whooo!" "Well, he seems happy to know he'll see his friends again." Squall says to Rinoa, with a smile slowly forming on his face. "I know the feeling, Squall." She replies happily, "I really do!" The party makes camp at the village, and the three Toa each take shifts watching out for intruders while Squall and Rinoa sit together against an igloo-like structure, watching the sun set. "You know, it's a miracle that the skies here are still so beautiful," Rinoa commented, resting her head on Squall's shoulder, "even while this planet is in so much pain..." Truly, this takes me back to the night we first met, Squall thought, or when we celebrated our victory over the Sorceress Extreme. "We made our way back home from so far out in time and space before." Squall spoke to his beloved, who had just closed her eyes as night fell, "I just know in my heart we can do it again..." Allusions to Final Fantasy VIII * Zell, Quistis, Edea, Ellone, and Ultimecia are mentioned. * The T-Rexaurs Squall mentions in Le-Mido are usually found in similarly forested areas of the game. * Valefar's mouth blasts are executed in a similar fashion to Quetzalcoatl's signature attack. * The inside of the Mako Reactor is designed after the Lunatic Pandora. * The puzzle for the "W" note is solved in a similar fashion to playing. the Triple Triad mini-game. * The password to the generator room is "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" a phrase that is an anagram of the phrases "Succession of Witches" and "Love", two of the main themes in the game, but is not an actual phrase in Latin. Here, it is implied to be a spell used by the Sorceresses. * In the reactor, Jikanmu alludes to the "Squall is dead" fan theory as being set in an alternate timeline. In that same scene, he addresses the events that Squall would perceive in death as "happening as normal" after being hit by Edea's ice javelin as his "final fantasy", which doubles as a semi-reference to the wording of Ultimecia's Deling City speech in the original japanese script. * The "Ultimecia is Rinoa in the future" fan theory is also referenced. Trivia * The title of "Sorceress Extreme", which has never been used in any official publications prior, is attributed to Ultimecia, in reference the game's final boss theme, "The Extreme". It is also similarly structured after the Marvel Comics hero Dr. Strange's own title, the "Sorcerer Supreme". * The 5x5 grid of miniature icebergs from the Great Glacier in Final Fantasy VII makes an appearance in Ko-Shiro as a puzzle that had to be solved to raise the bridge. * This is the only segment where the Mako Reactor raid happens in the second to last chapter, unlike the previous and next segments. * Chocobos can be found in snowy regions, though not necessarily in any such area of Final Fantasy VIII. * Matau taking offense to being called "Big Green" is a shoutout to Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged: Episode 16. ** His "ex-squeeze me?" quote in that same scene is lifted from Jar Jar Binks. Category:Stories